Witch Week

     This blog was created for the 2018 spring class for Lit of Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy course at Ringling College of Art and Design. In this blog I will talk about the books we read and what they mean to me personally. If you have come across this blog and have not read the book I am talking about this week, I will warn you now that I will spoil it.

     This week we read about witches. Witches is a difficult subject to talk about due to their origin. As is probably obvious today's witches are only female, but it didn't begin that way. The word witch comes from the old English word "Wicca" which actually applies to both what we would call today wizards and witches, (Wicca simply meaning someone attuned to magic). The reason the word Witch was created was actually in rebellion to early female progressivism. It was believed that women were not as smart as man, so when they did something that a man couldn't understand it must be magic, or "Witchcraft". In reality most "Witches" were just doctors or herbalists. 

     Most witch stories were centered around a single evil woman who was adept with magic, again in protest to the feminist movement. However the world has moved past their fear of intelligent women, as a result the idea of the "Evil Witch" was left behind, meaning the idea needed to be reinvented. Nowadays witch stories are coming of age stories for young girls growing in to women, an appropriate 180 to match the changing times. However, because of this change, I believe witches no longer fit in the category of "horror". There isn't anything scary about growing up after all, it's a part of life. Instead I would consider the witch character to fit more in to fantasy, which reflects In works such as Howl's Moving Castle and Harry Potter.